Display device

ABSTRACT

Provided is a display device which includes an electrooptical panel and a protection member including a print part in a peripheral region and disposed to face the electrooptical panel to protect the electrooptical panel. The protection member includes a first reference mark in the peripheral region. The electrooptical panel includes a second reference mark in a position corresponding to the first reference mark and is held to have an overlap with the protection member. The print part includes at least the first print layer and a second print layer disposed in a position facing the first print layer. The first reference mark is made up of a hole having a predetermined shape formed in the second print layer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a display device in which a protectionmember having a print layer is located on a front surface of anelectrooptical panel such as a display panel or a touch panel.

Description of the Background Art

In a display device including an electrooptical panel of a display panelor a touch panel such as a liquid crystal display panel or an organic ELpanel, a protection member in which a frame-like printing is formed in aperipheral region of an effective display region of the display panel orthe touch panel is located.

Recently, there is an increasing demand for a display device having adeformed shape other than a rectangular shape, and a design of theframe-like printing formed in the peripheral region of the protectionmember near an opening is diversified, thus a design of curvature, forexample, is adopted to a corner of the frame-like printing in somecases.

In a display device having a general rectangular shape, a frame-likeprinting formed in a peripheral region of a protection member is alsoformed to have a rectangular shape, thus when a display panel or a touchpanel is disposed on the protection member, a position adjustment isperformed by making a corner part formed on a corner near an opening anda reference mark formed on the display panel or the touch panel coincidewith each other. However, when the printing formed in the peripheralregion of the protection member has a shape other than the rectangularshape, the corner is not formed near the opening in some cases, so thatit is difficult to perform the position adjustment with the referencemark formed on the display panel or the touch panel for adjusting theposition.

According to an image display device disclosed in Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. 2011-203317, disclosed is a technique offorming a position identification mark in a position other than a cornerof a coloring layer having a frame-like shape to determine a correctpositional relationship of a front surface plate when the front surfaceplate is incorporated into the display device. However, the positionidentification mark disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-OpenNo. 2011-203317 is used for identifying a correct direction of the frontsurface plate, and does not disclose the position adjustment of thedisplay panel and the front surface plate facing each other. Theposition identification mark is formed of a coloring layer or a patternwith a color different from a coloring layer, so that there is a problemthat the identification mark is visually recognized from a surface.

SUMMARY

An object is to provide a display device which enables a positionadjustment with a reference mark formed on a display panel or a touchpanel, which is disposed to face a protection member, even when a printpart formed in a peripheral region of the protection member is providedwith a shape other than a rectangular shape. Accordingly, the referencemark is not visually recognized from a display surface side.

A display device according to the present invention includes anelectrooptical panel and a protection member including a print part in aperipheral region and disposed to face the electrooptical panel toprotect the electrooptical panel. The protection member includes a firstreference mark in the peripheral region. The electrooptical panelincludes a second reference mark in a position corresponding to thefirst reference mark and is held to have an overlap with the protectionmember. The print part includes at least a first print layer and asecond print layer disposed in a position facing the first print layer.The first reference mark is made up of a hole having a predeterminedshape formed in the second print layer.

According to the display device described above, a position adjustmentwith an electrooptical panel facing a protection member can be performedeven when a print part formed in a peripheral region of the protectionmember is provided with a shape other than a rectangular shape. Thedisplay device enables a structure that a reference mark is not visuallyrecognized from a display surface side.

These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of the present invention when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a display device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the display device along an A-A linein FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a display panel constituting the display deviceof the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a protection member constituting the displaydevice of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional along a B-B line in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a plan view for describing a position adjustment of a generaldisplay device.

FIG. 7 is a plan view for describing a position adjustment of thedisplay device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a partial plan view of a protection member indicating amodification example in the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a protection member in anotherembodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1

Described firstly is a display device of the present invention. FIG. 1is a plan view of the display device of the present invention, and FIG.2 is a cross-sectional view along an A-A line in FIG. 1. As illustratedin FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, in a display device 100 of the present invention, adisplay surface 31 of a display panel 3 is attached to a protectionmember 1 protecting the display panel 3 using an adhesive bond 2. Whenthe display device 100 includes a touch panel (not shown) on a displaysurface 31 side of the display panel 3, the touch panel and theprotection member 1 are attached to each other using the adhesive bond2.

A configuration of the protection member 1 of the present invention isdescribed. The protection member 1 of the present invention is aplate-like member made up of a transparent material such as glass orplastic. The protection member 1 includes a frame-like print part 4corresponding to a display region 11 of the display panel 3 disposed toface one surface of the plate-like member. The print part 4 of thepresent invention is a black-frame print having a black frame-likeshape, disposed to face the display panel 3 of the protection member 1,and includes a double-layer structure made up of a print layer 41 as afirst layer and a print layer 42 as a second layer as described below.The print layer 41 as the first layer is applied to the protectionmember 1, and subsequently the print layer 42 as the second layer isapplied. The print part 4 is not blacked out (shown in black) for apurpose of explanation in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The adhesive bond 2 contains a resin material such as a bonding materialof optical clear adhesive (OCA). When an air bubble occurs due to adifference in level between the print part 4 and the adhesive bond 2 ata time of attaching the protection member 1 and the display panel 3, abonding material filling the difference in level between the print part4 and the adhesive bond 2 needs to be selected. A liquid resin ofoptical clear liquid adhesive (OCLA) may be used when the air bubbleoccurs.

The display panel 3 is made up of a (transparent or semi-transparent)liquid crystal display panel, for example, applies birefringence of aliquid crystal, and includes a first substrate in which a color filter(CF), a light shielding layer, and an opposite electrode, for example,are formed on an insulating substrate such as glass and a secondsubstrate in which a thin film transistor (TFT) which is a switchingelement and a pixel electrode, for example, are formed on an insulatingsubstrate such as glass. The display panel 3 is made up of, for example,a spacer for keeping an interval between the first substrate and thesecond substrate, a sealing member to bond the first substrate and thesecond substrate, a liquid crystal sandwiched between the first andsecond substrates, a sealant of an inlet from which the liquid crystalis injected, an alignment film for aligning the liquid crystal, apolarization plate (not shown) disposed on outer surfaces of the firstand second substrates, and a drive integrated circuit (IC) disposed onan outer periphery of the second substrate or on a tape carrier package(TCP) or chip on film (COF) which is a tape-like wiring materialconnected to the periphery of the second substrate.

A touch panel not shown is disposed on the display surface 31 of thedisplay panel 3 in some cases. The touch panel converts informationregarding a positional coordinate being input from outside (a user) by acircuit of a transparent electrode formed on a transparent substrateinto an electrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to acontrol circuit, which is a final product, via an output wiring unitconnected to an end portion of the touch panel. Used as the outputwiring unit is a flexible printed circuit (FPC) in which a wiring isformed on a film-like base material in accordance with a degree offreedom of connection according to thinness and flexibility, however, adifferent material or structure may be adopted as long as it has anequivalent function and characteristic.

A general display device is described herein. FIG. 6 shows a generaldisplay device made up of a rectangular display panel 38 and theprotection member 1. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the general displaydevice includes a reference mark 39 in a peripheral region of therectangular display panel 38 to adjust a position to the protectionmember 1 and the protection member 1 on which a rectangular print part48 is provided. The print part 48 is formed to have the rectangularshape, thus a corner part 481 is formed in an inner side, and thisconfiguration enables the position adjustment of the reference mark 39of the display panel 38 with the corner part 481 of the rectangularprint part 48 formed on the protection member 1.

The display device of the present invention is described. FIG. 3 is aplan view of a display panel of the present invention viewed from adisplay surface side, FIG. 4 is a plan view of the protection member 1viewed from a rear surface side (an opposite side of the displaysurface), and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view along a B-B line in FIG.4. The print part 4 is not blacked out for a purpose of explanation inthe drawings. As described above, the protection member 1 of the presentinvention has a shape other than the rectangular shape, and does notinclude a corner part (481 in FIG. 6) in the inner side of an area wherethe print part 4 is formed but includes a corner having a curvature.Thus, the corner part 481 of the print part 48 cannot be used as a markfor the position adjustment as is the case in the general display deviceillustrated in FIG. 6. Thus, formed in the present invention are areference mark 32 formed on the display panel 3 illustrated in FIG. 3for adjusting the position to the protection member 1 and a referencemark 43 in a peripheral region of the protection member 1 illustrated inFIG. 4, which is a region in which a frame-like black-frame print isprovided, that is to say, in the print part 4. The display panel 3 isdisposed so that the reference mark 43 of the protection member 1coincides with the reference mark 32 of the display panel 3 (illustratedby a dotted line in FIG. 4). At this time, a center 431 of the referencemark 43 is set, and the position adjustment with the reference mark 32of the display panel is performed.

The reference mark 43 formed in the region in which the print part 4 isformed in the protection member 1 is described in detail. As illustratedin FIG. 1, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5, the print part 4 is formed on a surface(a rear surface 13), which is one surface of the protection member 1 andon which the display panel 3 is disposed, to be sequentially formed tohave a frame-like shape in a plan view. Firstly, the print layer 41 asthe first layer is disposed as a coloring layer with a black color or acolor which enables light shielding, and the print layer 42 as thesecond layer is disposed to have an overlap with the print layer 41 asthe first layer. The print layer 42 as the second layer is not disposedin a predetermined position in which the reference mark 43 is formed.That is to say, a hole having a shape corresponding to the referencemark 43 is formed. In the present embodiment 1, as illustrated in FIG.1, the reference mark 43 has a cross shape, and the print layer 42 asthe second layer having a cross-shaped hole is disposed to have theoverlap with the print layer 41 as the first layer.

The reference mark 43 provided on the protection member 1 is provided onthe print layer 41 as the first layer of the print part 4 as illustratedin FIG. 5. When the print layer 42 as the second layer is disposed tohave the overlap with the print layer 41 as the first layer and theprint part 4 is formed in the peripheral region 12 surrounding thedisplay region 11, an end portion 422 forming a region 431 including acenter O of the reference mark 43 is formed with a predetermineddistance D1 from an end portion of the print part 4. An end portion 424of the protection member 1 is formed with a predetermined distance D2from the other end portion 423 on an opposite side of the end portion422 of the region 431 including the center O of the reference mark 43.As described above, the distance D1 and the distance D2 to the region431 including the center O are accurately formed to ensure apredetermined area of the reference mark 43, thus an accuracy in adistance from the display region 11 to the reference mark 43 is secured.A color density of the print layer 41 as the first layer and the printlayer 42 as the second layer is recognized using a camera (not shown)for identifying the reference mark 43. The region 431 including thecenter O of the reference mark 43 is recognized, and is made to coincidewith a center of the reference mark 32 formed on the display panel 3. Acoloring layer with a color which enables light shielding may be adoptedas the print layer 41 as the first layer and the print layer 42 as thesecond layer, and each of the print layers may be formed of a printlayer with the black color or a color different from each other.

As described above, when the print part 4 of the protection member 1 ismade up of the coloring layer with the black color and the print layer42 as the second layer is provided on the print layer 41 as the firstlayer, the cross-shaped hole is formed and disposed in the predeterminedposition of the print layer 42 as the second layer to form the referencemark 43, thus it is hard to visually recognize the reference mark 43from a side of the print layer 41 as the first layer, that is to say,the display surface side. The reference mark 43 can be disposed even ina position which is not hidden by the other member such as a chassis ofa customer. Accordingly, the reference mark 43 is formed on theblack-frame print 41 as the first layer, thus can be formed in anoptional position, and a degree of freedom in designing is increased.

FIG. 7 is a plan view for describing the position adjustment of thedisplay device of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 7, theposition adjustment with a reference mark 36 formed on a display panel35 can be performed even when a protection member 14 has a corner with aspecial shape other than the curvature in the inner side of an areawhere the print part 4 is formed (the corresponding display panel 35also has the similar shape) as long as a reference mark 45 can be formedin the print part 4. The print part 4 illustrated in FIG. 7 partlyincludes a substantial U-shape. It is possible to form the referencemark 45 in a center of an intersection between extension lines of thesubstantial U-shape and make the reference mark 45 coincide with thereference mark 36 formed on the display panel 35 facing the protectionmember 14. Any shape such as a circle shape 46, a triangle shape 47, anda square shape (including a polygonal shape) 48, for example, may beapplied instead of the cross shape as long as the center of thereference mark 45 can be set therein.

Embodiment 2

In the embodiment 1, the cross-shaped hole is formed in the print layer42 as the second layer in the print part 4 to form the reference mark43. In the embodiment 2, as illustrated in FIG. 9, a print part 5 has aconfiguration that a print layer 51 as a first layer of a black printand a print layer 52 as a second layer of a colored printing are formedin a laminated form, then a print layer 53 as a third layer is laminatedthereon, and a hole is provided in a part of the print layer 53 to forma reference mark 541.

A method of manufacturing the print part 5 in the embodiment 2 isdescribed. After the black print of the print layer 51 as the firstlayer is formed, the colored printing of the print layer 52 as thesecond layer is formed on the black-frame print of the print layer 51 asthe first layer. Subsequently, the print layer 53 as the third layer isformed in a black-frame print. The black-frame print of the print layer53 as the third layer is formed in an area ranging from an end portion55 on the display region 11 to a reference mark 54 and from thereference mark 54 to an end of the protection member 1. The print layer53 as the third layer ranges from the end portion 55 on the displayregion 11 to the reference mark 54, thus an accuracy of position rangingfrom the display region 11 to the center 541 of the reference mark 54 isensured. The accuracy of position at this time ranges from an endportion of the print layer 53 as the third layer on the display region11 to and end portion of the reference mark 54. That is to say, theprint layer 53 as the third layer is not disposed in the position wherethe reference mark 54 is formed to have the overlap with the print layer52 as the second layer, and the print layer 53 as the third layer isformed to have the overlap with the position other than the referencemark 54. In this manner, the reference mark 54 is formed on the coloredprinting of the print layer 52 as the second layer. In the mannersimilar to the embodiment 1, the embodiment 2 has the structure that thereference mark 54 is not visually recognized from the display surface,thus the reference mark 54 can also be disposed in a position which isnot hidden by a chassis of a customer. The reference mark 54 can bedisposed anywhere on the colored printing.

The reference mark 54 is disposed on the colored printing of the printlayer 52 as the second layer. The reference mark 54 is formed on thecolored printing 52 having the different color from the print layer 53as the third layer, thus the reference mark 54 can be easily recognizedfrom the rear surface side. In a case where the reference mark 54 isrecognized using a camera, a camera which is not highly accurate maysuffice in the camera recognition by reason that the reference mark 54is disposed in the colored printing part, thus the reference mark 54 canbe visually recognized.

While the invention has been shown and described in detail, theforegoing description is in all aspects illustrative and notrestrictive. It is therefore understood that numerous modifications andvariations can be devised without departing from the scope of theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A display device, comprising: an electroopticalpanel; and a protection member including a print part in a peripheralregion, and disposed to face the electrooptical panel to protect theelectrooptical panel, wherein the protection member includes a firstreference mark in the peripheral region, the electrooptical panelincludes a second reference mark in a position corresponding to thefirst reference mark and is held to have an overlap with the protectionmember, the print part includes at least: a first print layer; and asecond print layer disposed in a position facing the first print layer,and the first reference mark is made up of a hole having a predeterminedshape formed in the second print layer.
 2. The display device accordingto claim 1, wherein the print part has a double-layer structure made upof the first print layer and the second print layer, and each of thefirst and second print layers is made up of a black print layer.
 3. Thedisplay device according to claim 1, wherein the print part of theprotection member further includes a third print layer disposed betweenthe first print layer and the second print layer, and the third printlayer has a color different from the first and second print layers. 4.The display device according to claim 3, wherein the third print layeris formed by a colored printing.
 5. The display device according toclaim 1, wherein in the second print layer, the hole is formed with apredetermined distance from an end portion of the second print layer toan end portion of a region where the hole is formed and a predetermineddistance from another end portion of the region where the hole is formedto an end portion of the protection member, thus a predetermined area isensured in the first reference mark.
 6. The display device according toclaim 1, wherein an outer shape of the first reference mark is selectedfrom a cross shape, a circle shape, a triangle shape, and a squareshape.
 7. The display device according to claim 1, wherein theelectrooptical panel is a display panel or a touch panel.
 8. The displaydevice according to claim 1, wherein the protection member is formed ofglass or a resin.